


Not All Touches Are Innocent

by Linae_Liminae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Awkward Situation, Flirting, Sexual Tension, Shiro tickles Allura and it backfires, close conversation, group tickling, in a good way, or maybe not, she leaves and he ends up with an erection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 13:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10877490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linae_Liminae/pseuds/Linae_Liminae
Summary: “It’s kind of weird to explain,” he says, chuckling airily. “I don’t suppose the concept of tickling exists in Altea, does it?”Allura walks in on the team tickling Shiro and before she could ask, they all bolt. A conversation later about how tickling differs between cultures and suddenly things get a little bit... steamy.





	Not All Touches Are Innocent

Her eyes are wide when Shiro glances in the direction of the door. What laughter has been forcefully yanked from his lips ends in a shocked sort of giggle that stops as soon as the rest of the team notices the new addition. It is in this absurd position–

The team spread around the couches in the main room; Hunk holding Shiro’s arms back (he is surprisingly strong), Lance pinning his legs down while Pidge and Keith are on either side of him, their hands lifted away from finding bruising spots that had succeeded in unleashing bursts of panicked laughter and much squirming.

–that Allura finds them. The hologram panel in her arms flops downward in her surprise and momentary shock. In that split moment, no one moves, too overwhelmed with the abruptness of it all.

“Um.” The fragment of a word falls from the normally eloquent lips of the Princess. It’s gentle uttered, yet for all it did, it might as well have been a firecracker. The team scrambles away, assuming normal positions and avoiding glances whilst hiding embarrassed flushes.

“Nothing happened!” Lance exclaims, rubbing the back of his neck and assuming a bright expression that crumbles every-so-often as excuse after excuse falls apart in his brain before it comes out. The straggling few come out in a clumsy sentence that does little to better the situation.

“Shiro was just–we were all just–as we say on Earth! …Aha… yeah, I can’t really explain this. Hunk?”

“Uh, no,” Hunk shakes his head, taking a few steps backward. “I’m good. I’ll just…hey, Pidge! Isn’t there that one thing you said you wanted to…”

“Right!” Pidge’s voice might’ve been a touch too loud. Her cheeks flush. “Uh, yeah, there’s that thing…we need to, y’know. Diagnostics and stuff. Keith?”

Keith’s body gives a little jump but he catches on quick. He follows the awkwardly retreating tech-savvy duo with a purse of his lips, “Yeah. Right, the upgrades…to my bayard.”

“That’s it!” Pidge smacks his arm with an appreciative look. “We’ll just go.”

Without another word, they disappear behind a sliding door. Allura gives Lance a curious expression that he takes with a jolt and a grimace. “Oh look at that! I gotta go help them out!”

He scrambles after them, hissing something under his breath about useless comrades and abandoning teammates before the door slides open and closed. The remaining awkward tension falls entirely on Shiro who, to his credit, had only been able to straighten himself up and stand a foot away from the couch, clenching and unclenching his hands.

“So,” Allura begins and there’s a glimmer of amusement in her eyes among the confusion pursing her lips. “Are you going to run away, too, or should I expect an explanation?”

Shiro gives her a bashful look, cheeks pink and lips pulled into a sheepish grin. He knows this look works, judging by previous experiences and the current look of affection tugging a grin over Allura’s lips.

“It’s kind of weird to explain,” he says, chuckling airily. “I don’t suppose the concept of tickling exists in Altea, does it?”

Allura raises a brow and presses a finger under her chin as her eyes travel up, pensive. Shiro would be an idiot to not find that gesture any less adorable than she found his sheepish look adorable. Not that this was every vocally expressed…

“I don’t…believe so,” Allura says before glancing down at him with a small smile. “Tell me more.”

“Ah,” Shiro exhales, hoping she wouldn’t ask. His shoulders sag and his head droops. It’s not as if he hates talking to her about their differing customs, on the contrary, he enjoys it quite a lot. However, he does remember certain conversations that ended with some frustrations and even a few unintentional spats between the two of them. He wasn’t entirely certain how this one would end, but he doubted it would get any worse than it already is. Without further ado, Shiro gestures to the opposite couch nearest Allura and she barely hides a look of amusement before making her way to the seat.

Shiro follows, taking that brief moment the space between him and the couch allowed him to think of the right way to begin. Once the cushions sink to accommodate his weight, Shiro is faced with an expectant look from the princess and he sighs when he catches the barely contained grin in her eyes.

“So, tickling.”

“Tickling,” Allura parrots, nodding sagely.

“It’s kind of something that is done with children,” Shiro says. “You’ve obviously become aware of how our bodies work and stuff right?”

“Coran still thinks having two kidneys is absurd,” Allura rolls her eyes. Shiro gives her a wry smirk.

“Well, like Alteans, we have a very active nervous system. Like so,” he says and extends his left hand, palm up. “Palms of our hands, soles of our feet, our tongues, and other various parts of our bodies have very receptive and sensitive nerve endings.”

He’s only slightly surprised when Allura follows his actions by gently sliding the tips of her fingers against his. He shifts his wrist to face his palm against hers. Allura doesn’t hesitate in meeting their palms together. They’ve done this before and there’s a twinge of warmth at how natural this feels that wasn’t there before. That or he’s still winded from the adrenaline rush from his teammates’ attack earlier.

“There are different responses to each touch,” Shiro continues, clearing his throat when Allura meets his gaze and the twinge gains strength. “This right here is an expected response…but you already know that.”

“I do,” she says.

“I guess it has a lot to do with thousands of years of genetics,” Shiro says. “When I was little my dad told me about how the reason some of us are more ticklish than others was because panic responses to being stabbed in the back or in the side in less civilized times lead to where we are now. I mean, I doubt that, but I guess it makes some sense in explaining why some people react stronger than others aside from personal experience…”

He catches himself rambling just as Allura giggles and he mirrors her smile without really intending to. “Anyway, long story short, I’m really ticklish and the guys are jerks and ganged up on me. Just in time for you to walk in and see…that.” 

Her hand traces the lines of his palms similarly to the time he had done the same for her.

“So, it’s merely nervous response to stress?” Allura asks.

Shiro nods. “Since it leads to a positive result, like laughter, we generally do it also as a weird social bonding thing. Don’t ask me why it’s easier to just take it as is than to connect it to primitive apes or whatever.”

“Oh, I see, so…” Allura’s eyes widen, lips falling to form an ‘o’ shape. The look instantly sends a zing of dread into Shiro’s stomach. He knows what she’s going to do eons before she does it, but it still shocks him when she jabs a hand forward, digging her fingers into his sides.

“Like this?” She asks as Shiro doubles over with a yelp. She’s running her fingers into his sides, and gasps of laughter rip from his lungs and through his throat, breaking her name into fragments from his tongue.

“Allu–ALLURA!!” Shiro squawks, thrashing back on the couch as she climbs over him to gain a better vantage point. “D-Don’t…!!”

She’s giggling and it makes it that much harder for him to break from her grip because he knows she’s not really digging as hard as Pidge or Keith, and he allows himself a second to lie to himself–just to keep her close, just to watch her hover over him with her hair glittering like silver starlight over her shoulder, pink marks aglow beneath her devious blue eyes. He manages to catch her wrists in his hands, holding them away from their treachery.

He uses the opportunity to flip them over, nearly toppling them from the couch but succeeding to get Allura on her back. Here the angle is different, intimate, and oh so warm.

“You cannot possibly…” Shiro gasps, deep laughter stains the back of his throat every so often as he attempts to glare down at her. “Expect me to believe…you’re not aware of tickling now.”

“We have a similar concept,” Allura replies through a gasp and a sigh. “Although it’s not nearly as amusing as it is with you or your team. As far as it goes, once Alteans reach maturity that reaction fades, so it’s more infantile than anything.”

Shiro tilts his chin, considering her words before meeting her smile with a widening smirk. Allura catches it and glares at him.

“It won’t work, Shiro.”

“It can’t hurt to try.”

“Oh, it very well could–” her voice breaks when his fingers slide down to her side and give a gentle squeeze. Allura squeaks and begins to squirm, her cheeks flushing a bright pink. “Unhand me!”

“Not a chance,” Shiro replies candidly. “Revenge is a dish best served immediately.”

“Shiro, I mean it!”

And before Shiro could question the bizarre urgency in her voice, he’s on his back and she’s pinning his wrists above his head, her gaze half-lidded and her hair curtaining their faces. He’s stunned into silence, staring up at her and realizing the look in her eyes was almost… _hungry._

She clears her throat and she lets out a shuddering sigh, she slowly pulls away and flips her hair over her shoulder again.

“We…ah…probably shouldn’t do that here,” she says through a soft smile. “On second thought, it’s best you don’t do that at all or else…”

“Or else?” He asks because he wants to know before he could think to shut up.

“Or else I could very well eat you alive,” she says this in a deep voice that rouses a jolt of surprise and heat into his blood. She closes her eyes and for an insane moment, Shiro wants to push her, to test how far he could get to make her clarify her statement all the more intimately.

“The reaction changes into something else altogether.” She pulls away completely. Shiro props himself up on an elbow as he watches her pull her hair behind her and adjust her skirts. She looks at him from over her shoulder, lower lip caught at an angle between her teeth and it’s so _pretty_  Shiro feels his mouth run dry.

“I’ll just…excuse myself. I’ll see you at dinner?”

“Oh–uh, yeah, see you at, we’ll see you at…” he stumbles through a sentence but never finishes it. She’s gone before he could even chew the word ‘dinner’ out and he struggles to register what just happened. He glances down and sees a tell-tale bulge in his pants that brings forth a deep groan of mortification. Oh God, what if she _saw…?? Did she see that???_

Shiro pushes up to sit on the couch and cradles his head in his palms. He decides a visit to the training deck would be enough to help him put aside what just happened.

…He was most certainly _not_  turned on right now.

**Author's Note:**

> ten thousand points to the person who catches that last reference


End file.
